======= Date Modified 06 Sep 2011 11:57:34 =======
Hi Runner,

Wow, I can really relate to your post!!

SUBMISSION

I had to submit by the 30th of September, no questions asked (I was an ESRC student), but I knew by the beginning of September 2010,  I was by no means finished. September 2010 was pure hell for me. I knew my PhD was not up to scratch and I was 100% convinced they would fail it outright. I worked non stop, was very unhappy, tearful, depressed, plagued with suicidal thoughts, gaining weight, emotional outbursts, panic attacks, you name it.

Knowing that my PhD was unfinished, my supervisory team and department contacted the chief PhD convenor of the university and requested an extension. He quickly denied this request and I was forced to submit on the 30th of September. In the end, I had no choice but to submit by the 30th of September. My supervisors said if I did not submit by the 30th of September, I would risk leaving without a degree. I printed my 'thesis' off, took a taxi to my university (60 miles away!) and submitted on the 30th of September before 5pm.

I told my superviors that I was quitting days before the submission. Like you, I just had enough of my thesis and I couldn't bare to look at it anymore. Every bit of me was screaming at me to just stop and walk away, but after some desperate begging (not joking!) from my loved ones, I submitted on the 30th of September.

At the time of my submission, as my supervisors had not yet found my PhD examiners, I was allowed to work on my thesis after submission, whilst my supervisors contacted potential examiners. So, on the system, I officially submitted my thesis on the 30th of Sept (I had to physically submit my thesis in hand), but my university 'looked away' whilst I finished parts of my thesis. I was given just over a week to make some additional corrections. Once they found examiners, I returned to the university with a much improved draft and then went through the stress of binding etc. I'm just wondering if this is a potential option for you?

Also, a fellow PhD friend of mine who started the same time as me had to submit by the 30th of September, but due to pregnancy and a baby, she was allowed a sixth month extension on her submission date. However, she was not an ESRC student so she did not have the same pressures placed on her to submit. There are cases where universities grant extensions for submitting a thesis.....

Focusing on the good parts of my thesis helped me remain calm and stamp out my extremely negative views. Perhaps getting someone with fresh eyes to give you some positive feedback? Is this something you could do?

I buried my head in the sand during the final few weeks leading up to submission which was completely the wrong thing to do. Contact your supervisors immediately....if you haven't already done so.

VIVA

After a nightmare of waiting around for my viva date, I had a lovely viva and they were extremely complimentary about my thesis- much to my astonishment. After spending the past 4 odd years fearing the worst (MPhil or outright fail) I managed to obtain the resubmission/major corrections viva option I desperately wanted- and I was delighted!!! I know a resubmission option is viewed by some as a fail, but I saw it as an acheivement as I knew it could have been MUCH MUCH worse if they failed me outright or failed me with an MPhil.

I'm still working on my thesis post viva, but I got through it- just. Please feel free to send any PMs or ask any questions if this helps at all.

Please take care of yourself xxxx

Today- well due to sickness, I haven't looked at my thesis for just over a week..... :$ and I'm feeling really guilty about taking so much time away from my thesis and also relying on my family to support me whilst I complete this monster. I feel very alone from my university, so this forum has become my main source of support at the moment.

However, I'm feeling a little better now and my voice is starting to return. Severe case of tonsillitis is just not fun at all- and managed to completely drain out almost every last drop of energy.

I don't know HOW I'm going to finish all these thesis corrections before Christmas. I think I'm going to have to bury myself in a shed somewhere or find a very quiet corner in a library away from any internet distractions. My supervisor at my last job said I need to have hours of continious concentration without any distractions in order to successfully complete a thesis in time. Sounds like good advice.

I'm looking at my PhD supervisors PhDs via the EThOS British Library- has anyone used this service? I can see exactly where my sups have derived their arguments and ideas on structure etc over the last 4-5 years.

Anyway, I can't look at my thesis today (due to writing publications for a clinical psychologist), but it's full steam ahead tomorrow onwards. I'm looking over my sups PhDs though just to get further ideas about bringing the word count down.

Plan for the rest of this week- finish updating the first part of my literature review chapters.

Nightmare- fighting back the tears yet again :-(

======= Date Modified 28 Aug 2011 20:03:43 =======
I'm working on revising my literature review chapters today. Currently collecting additional papers relevant to my thesis.

I'm post viva working on thesis corrections, but I'm struggling with feeling really inadequate and 'slow' in comparison with people who started a year later than me, yet have fully completed their PhDs. My own fault for adding so much into one singular thesis. Even my examiners kept commenting on how much work I've done......kind of regretting my ambitious nature now :-(

Just need to maintain some degree of motivation and productivity to get through this!

Anyway, I'll keep chipping a way at it with a view to have a final final draft before Christmas. Have to remember that it could have been worse. At least they didn't fail me outright or award me with an MPhil after corrections!

Best of luck those of you about to hit the submission hurdle :)

======= Date Modified 28 Aug 2011 11:29:51 =======
I had to wait for my viva date(s) after submission. But, my pre-viva journey is probably a complete outlier.....

- Submitted September 2010
- February 2011- Viva date- April 2011
- March 2011- 2 weeks before viva- viva cancelled
- May 2011- new viva date
- June 2011- viva took place- currently working on thesis corrections for PhD award

so a bit of a roller coaster for me (and also deeply upsetting and stressful!)

Depends on your examiners availability, holidays (ie summer, bank holidays, Christmas, easter etc etc) and to some extent problems with thesis (in my case an overly long thesis).

I think fellow PhD students in my department received their viva dates prior to submission. So lots of variability.

======= Date Modified 23 Aug 2011 15:42:58 =======
Thanks K....Best of luck with your post viva corrections :)

I'll keep persevering. I think more than anything this is just a battle of wills and keeping it together! I'm really struggling in remaining motivated and serious feelings of inadequacy etc are starting to creep back into my consciousness which isn't helping matters.

Anyway- in order to see the 'wood through the trees',  I'm working on pulling out the main fundamental points out of each 2.1., 2.2., 2.3 etc etc and either cutting out or reducing extra detail. My chapter word counts are falling rather rapidly as I'm rewording, restructuring and deleting stuff which does not explicitly relate to my main argument within each mini section as well as the main chapter objective. I'm looking at separate individual sections within each chapter rather than looking at 8k-25k word chapters and thinking arrrrrghhhhh!!

I'm hoping that this is a productive way in sorting out these thesis corrections. I also need to keep in mind that my methods and results sections are more or less fine, I just need to reduce my literature review chapters and add some sections to my discussion chapters.

I may start integrating walks into this thesis rewrite phase just to give myself a physical break away from my thesis.

I long for the day when this nightmare ends. I can't see the light yet, but I hope I can reach it someday.

Hi K :-)

Best of luck with your resubmission! I WISH I was in your position right now. I'll be following your posts with interest......

oh wow- thanks for thinking of me! I really appreciate it!

Well I think I'm getting somewhere with this chapter 2 (and chapter 3) - at least in terms of what to cut out, what to reduce and what needs some work. I've also introduced a new three part structure to my thesis so Part A consists of(Intro, literature review, aims), Part B (results) and Part C (Discussions, recommendations, implications and conclusions) as well as a part a, part b, part c model/flow diagram in my chapter 1 which seem to present my thesis into a nice order and breaks down this 100,000 word monster into a neat structure.

I still have a very long way to go though :( I've got the list of things that need changing from my examiners and it's a question of just working through them.

But, I had to really fight back the tears on Friday :( These corrections and thesis re-writes are requiring every last drop of motivation and dedication to pull through. My university seem to have washed their hands of me so I feel very alone with my thesis at the moment :( Oh well. Need to keep in mind that they haven't downgraded me (well unless I screw this resubmission up!).

Other than my voluntary work on Mondays, I've got nothing else to focus on, so its full steam ahead for the next few weeks....

======= Date Modified 18 Aug 2011 13:20:38 =======
This morning I received an official letter from my university basically telling me the outcome from my viva voce in June (why are they sending this in August?!).

I nearly had a heart attack as the letter starts with 'I'm sorry to tell you that'....

The last official letter I received from my university outlined that my viva voce was cancelled due to an overly long thesis. As a result,  I instantly thought this meant they've changed their minds and decided to award me with an MPhil!!

Much to my relief, the letter states when I need to submit my corrected thesis and that I need to pay (!?!) to submit again for re-examination FOR A PHD (not an MPhil)- mental note to self.......

There's no way I'm taking the full year to complete this PhD. NO WAY! I sooo want this done before Christmas.....

Anyway, feeling calmer now.....but yikes, my university definitely seems to prefer to play havoc with my blood pressure

Thanks for the advice everyone! I LOVE this forum :)

I'll keep chipping away at this thesis- hopefully I'll get there someday.....

(sprout)

This is really helpful post. Thank you! ;-)

Hey ,

Well I'm pleased to say, following from a good PhD viva outcome (well good in the sense of very positive comments from examiners, no secondary viva and no mention of an MPhil), as well as a good postgrad forum 'kick up the bum' intervention (!), I'm fully immersing myself in my thesis corrections and working on cutting everything down. I've got an absolute word limit of 99,999 words and I need to some how chop out approximately 40,000-50,000 words.

In line with my examiners requests, over the last few weeks, I've worked through my chapter 1 and chapter 2, cutting out or rewording extra detail whilst adding few more studies and theoretical frameworks, adding small bits of evaluation and including small changes which help navigate the reader through my 10 chapters. etc etc.

Today however, is a different story. I just can't see the summit or finishing line! I know there is an end point somewhere, but I feel as if I'm sinking in these thesis corrections!

Any tips? I'm trying to break these corrections down and focus on a few at a time. But considering I'm only working on chapter 1 and 2, I'm feeling daunted at the prospect of working through the remaining 8 chapters! :( However, most of my corrections involve cutting out extra detail in my literature review chapters, including a few more studies and theories and splitting my discussion chapter into two seperate discussion chapters. No real changes to my methods and result chapters....

Dad is letting me stay here rent free for a few months so I can fully focus on my PhD in order to finish asap, so I guess that's something to be thankful for.

Nightmare!

Anyway, apologies for moaning- especially to those of you preparing for submission and preparing for a viva!

Yes- me! :)

I'm post viva and I really want to have a final final draft for Decemeber. I REALLY don't want to be working on this thesis in 2012.

Congratulations Dr Keenbean :) Delighted for you! Enjoy the celebrations! :)

======= Date Modified 10 Aug 2011 07:32:59 =======
Ok- I seem to have found some motivation to finish this thesis. I want to remove these shackles more than anything! My plan- to finish for December 2011. I have until June 2012 but I would like to finish it this year.

On another note, I have just received an offer for a place on a Professional Doctorate in Health Psychology ;-) (at my first choice university) which will start in September, so I've got an added incentive to finish my PhD asap. For now, I'm focusing on the part time option which will be 1/2 days per week dedicated to health psychology training. I will change to full time status once my examiners are happy with my PhD thesis corrections.

Although I'm receiving a lot of criticism from others (especially in relation to starting something new before finishing my PhD) I really need to focus on my ultimate career plans, develop new skills and start something new. I started this PhD in 2006 and for my own sanity, I want to start something that interests me, opens up a big career option as a Chartered Psychologist and start something new. Others have started Professional Doctorates in Psychology during the final stages of a PhD, so I know it can be done. The Prof Doc is very different from a PhD as it focuses primarily on demonstrating skills in different work placements, so I'll be integrating myself within the work place as a trainee health psychologist whilst moving towards my preferred career path as a Chartered Psychologist (rather than a postdoc researcher).

But for the meantime, other than my voluntary work, I'm just going to focus on getting this PhD finished asap before September kicks off.

Thanks for the support everyone.

======= Date Modified 31 Jul 2011 09:45:56 =======
Thanks everyone, helpful as ever.

Considering viva stress, I needed some real time away from my thesis.

After a break, I'm feeling motivated to complete this thesis once and for all. The sooner I finish this, the sooner I can break free from these thesis chains. I guess I needed a virtual slap or 'kick up the bum' to get me moving! I don't want this thesis looming over my head in 2012, so I intend to finish everything before January 2012 (I don't want to be working on my thesis once I've hit 31!).

Apologies if I'm coming across as a lazy and apathetic individual. In general, I'm actually very motivated and dedicated sort of person, but given the hurdles I've faced along the way, my motivation, patience and resilience has taken a real knock! My thesis and PhD journey has always been an uphill struggle, so I think it's understandable I'm feeling a little apprehensive and reluctant to return to my thesis.

Anyway, main motivational factor= finish the thesis asap, then onwards to freeeeeeeeeeedom!!!!!!!!!! 

I know my PhD will open up new opportunties so the sooner the better really! Wishful thinking, but I hope the job market picks up soon! For now, I'm going to omit my PhD from my CV and continue with my voluntary work in the meantime. Hopefully I can start some relevant part time work soon.

;-)